Why do people use rollers, pads, floss etc?

[Vyper]

It’s very simple for me. I like to take long vacations with my family far away. My socks going 1-2 weeks without cleaning would be a tank disaster I am afraid. Filter rollers I change before leaving and have no worries. I don’t want just anyone messing with my tanks and this is one less thing to worry about. I try as much automation as possible to keep things as close to normal as I can while I am gone. It’s about stability for me.

 

[chaostactics]

poke for a poke its all good


the current status as I see it is freshwater folks have wasted orders more floss for decades, saltwater systems don’t benefit all that much from socks and roller mats for measurable waste impact unless the overall system design is clean (though suspended clarity and waste in the water column may be cleared) and that roller mat systems can at least be washed a few times before tossing out/ I thought they were just cut and thrown out after use

I would guess for a large part that FW keepers aren't nearly aware of environmental stewardship as SW keepers (should be). Not that it's a great excuse and there's waste everywhere I'm just surprised by lack of consideration by SW keepers.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I would guess for a large part that FW keepers aren't nearly aware of environmental stewardship as SW keepers (should be). Not that it's a great excuse and there's waste everywhere I'm just surprised by lack of consideration by SW keepers.

You shouldn’t, you don’t know all of us and certainly not those that have dedicated their lives to improving the oceans health and restoring our reefs.
Not all plastic end up in the ocean and a lot of us know how to use the recycle bin.

 

[boacvh]

For me it was a simple decision. The only thing I hated in the hobby was changing and washing socks. I change the roller once every 2 months. The socks, I had to change them 3 times a week. and then wash them. and rinse them since I used bleach. Don't care how much they cost me, my time is more valuable than those few extra dollars I might be spending. The rolls are ~$19. So I guess chuck it to convenience that's all.
And, to @chaostactics point this is more environmentally unfriendly and perhaps selfish on my part than washing socks, with the energy and bleach that took, I just really couldn't tell either. Confess didn't even think about it before, but still not convinced. PS great build thread @chaostactics

As far as does the roller make my sand more cloudy? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. Interesting theory, not sure I am following how you reached that conclusion @brandon429 but I also vacuum my sand so no idea. Happy to help you experiment though if you need a roller matt sucker .

 

[chaostactics]

You shouldn’t, you don’t know all of us and certainly not those that have dedicated their lives to improving the oceans health and restoring our reefs.
Not all plastic end up in the ocean and a lot of us know how to use the recycle bin..

1. Are you inferring that SW keepers shouldnt work toward being environmentally inclined?

2. You recycle your mechanical filtration media?

 

[InvertGang]

Freshwater folks are wasting orders more and for forty years, not a problem

To be fair, using new filter cartridges each time is like using new socks each time. Yes some people do it, but most resources say to rinse and reuse the cartridges and over time, many aquarists tend to move towards using sponge or similar and rinsing it in old tank water.

 

[InvertGang]

You're right poor choice of wording, I mean it's clear and obvious that large corporations of the world are destroying the worlds oceans.

My point is why add more if it can be relatively easily avoided.

Same thing with recycling RO waste water. It's not going to fix ocean acidification over night or anything but it's a simple step that most people avoid out of laziness.

What are some things you can do to recycle RO waste water?

 

[chaostactics]

What are some things you can do to recycle RO waste water?

The easiest way is to route it outside to a flower bed, lawn, or shrubs.

Slightly more complicated but easy enough is to route to a plastic 55 gallon drum that's elevated (like a rain water catch) and use the waste water to irrigate your garden or fill the doggie pool. (This is what I did, rain reclaiming barrel kits were free through a county water reduction/recycling program)

People have also routed to various other vessels for various other uses. I wanna say someone was using it for some farm application like watering live stock or washing equipment or something

A tad more complicated is to route it to a toilet tank or two for flush water.

Super complicated but interesting is a project where someone routed their waste water to a large retaining tank in a basement and used it as a thermal sink for a passive chiller.

 

[Ramdude4G]

If you're gonna use mechanical filtration why wouldn't you use socks? Sock are reusable* floss, pads, rollers, none of them are reusable (to my knowledge).

Why join a hobby that should inspire reef conservancy just to contribute largely to microplastics waste?

*Socks can be manually rinsed by hand or flipped inside out (or not tbh) and run though the wash with a bit of bleach. Run your output of your washing machine though a filter sock clipped to a utility sink if you can to catch stray bits of sock that come off in the wash.

For people like me that travel due to work it’s an excellent option. My work does not allow me to replace a set of socks every 3 days or so. Also my wife is not interested in general maintenance required for a larger system. She will if there is an emergency but she has too much on her plate to add another chore to her besides feeding and top off when I’m out of town. This just makes one less task that has to be performed almost daily. Plus it pulls the detritus out of the sump keeping it from decaying and adding to the nutrients.

 

[Ramdude4G]

Do you have literature stating the reef hobby's large contribution? I would guess that more styrofoam is used/discarded in this hobby.

I’ll bet he still eats fast food and takeout. The largest contributors to waste.

 

[Kfactor]

I like the idea of a filter roller and maybe in the future all try one but for no socks work good just hate washing them lol

 

[paintman]

Why would you want to use another piece of equipment that can fail? This hobby consists mostly of over priced fall apart junk anyways. You have to work real hard or be real stupid to have a filter sock give you any kind of problem! As far as socks clogging while being on vacation......just leave the dang things out for that week or two. Tank will never know the difference. I think the whole roller mat craze is just something the gear heads like to look at and then try and justify the money they wasted.

 

[snorklr]

i'm so old when i got my first tank filter floss was still spun glass...i guess that was more "green"...time to stick some pink owens corning in your sumps guys